Texas Rangers Blog

Gap between Beckett, Ogando narrows

The closest race in baseball at the moment is for the American League lead in ERA.

Boston’s Josh Beckett gave up two runs in seven innings on Thursday night as he beat New York Yankees’ lefthander CC Sabathia for the third time this season. That “raised” Beckett’s ERA to a league-best 2.06.

Ogando is second at 2.10, with Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels in third at 2.24

The Rangers have had one ERA champion in franchise history. Rick Honeycutt was traded during the 1983 season but had enough innings to qualify and win at 2.42.

MIke Paul has the lowest ERA in franchise history among qualifiers — one inning pitched per game played by club — at 2.17 in 1972. The last Ranger qualifier to have a sub-3.00 ERA over a full season was Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, at 2.91 for 173 innings in 1991.

(If you are wondering, John Burkett had the highest single-season ERA among qualifiers in club history at 5.68 in 1998, when the steroid era was raging.)